do professional level part time jobs exist?

[bedraggledmumoftwo]

I have a voluntary redundancy offer on the table, from my senior job for which I have applied to go part time. The maths on the VR are very compelling, I would have to go to work for free part time for the next two-three years just to break even on what I could get if I left, mostly due to the savings on high childcare bills..

However, I don't know if this is short sighted. I am a qualified accountant and could earn £40k for three days if I stay in my current role. Aibu to think the only way to get a decent professional, well paid part time job is to be doing it full time and put in a flexible working request or do bona fide high level jobs actually exist in their own right?

I can comment on accounting as a whole. But I find jobs like that, that are advertised as pt are rare. The only people I know who do are people who have gone pt after doing the role.

What about setting up on your own, then you can choose the hours you work?

I know a (very) small number of ex colleagues (equivalent professional sector to accountancy) working 3 days a week.
They did all secure those positions as part time from the start but they were all hired by individuals they'd successfully worked for before (at different organisations). None of those roles were advertised.

I know many more working 4 or 5 days a week (or not at all) who have been trying to secure a 3 day a week role for years.

I went self employed and can earn my previous salary on half the hours. It's worth looking in to. Can use the redundancy money to tide you over whilst you can get established.

I've worked in large multinationals for 10+ years and I've only known of people who have gone from FT to PT hours. I've not seen roles advertised as part time.
It might be easier in smaller firms though?

I think they are more common in the public sector, lots of people on say 24h per week contracts in councils. I bet they do lots at home though. But people working f/t often do lots at home too though.

I was made redundant a year and a half ago and have been unable to replicate the pay and working hours/conditions of my last job, which I had worked in fulltime and went back to part time after mat leave. I do have a part time job but on alot less money. The people i know with good part time jobs have negotiated them following being full time.

The only people i know with professional, part-time roles (including me) are people who previously did the job on a full-time basis. It mostly seems to be a case of proving that you are competent and disciplined and requesting a part-time role after "proving" yourself either in that job or others.

Yes, they exist. I had one til recently. No idea about accounting though. Are you quite sure you'd only be breaking even on 40k for a 3 day week though? You've checked out vouchers, tax credit entitlement, new childcare scheme starting in August? Just sounds like loads to be paying on childcare, unless you have a lot of children.

Quite a few people in my area of the civil service are on p/t often condensed hours and we need an overall number of full time equivalents doing the job. So e.g. we may need five FTE on our team and that balances out to seven individuals on a combination of f/t and p/t hours. If one of the p/t staff leave then we'd probably try to recruit to similar hours as we can't drop .6 or .7 of a person entirely from the team, and equally the budget doesn't stretch to a new full timer.

Yes, that pretty much confirms my suspicions. However, given that it would take two years or more to break even just compared to staying at home with my redundancy money, then I could earn less over a longer period and top it up with my payout.
Of course in a couple of years the maths on working will shift as my kids will be in school and I wont have to factor in £2k a month in childcare!

I don't think they exist in that the post is advertised and recruited as part-time. I think it is possible to negotiate part-time if they want you badly enough. Although, IME most people who have negotiated good pt roles are people who worked for the firm pre-DC so the company already knew they wanted to keep them, rather than a new person they wanted to recruit IYSWIM.

I am an accountant. My first part time position I did as you say, started full time and went back after maternity leave part time following a request for flexible working.

I got fed up and tried to move and the recruitment consultant said that part time positions are very rare, and 3 day a week (which was what I was) are almost non existent. From my first enquiry with a recruitment consultant to actually moving jobs was 18 months and then it was to a 4 day a week position.

But after a year in my new role I asked to do 1 day a week from home which they agreed so am only commuting 3 days. I actually think I would be able to get them to agree to a 3.5 day week eventually.

The other option is to do some consultancy work. My DH is also an accountant but is freelancing at the moment and is very flexible with his hours.

Not accountancy but my job is a senior level PT positon on a wfh contract.

They are rare as hens teeth though!

I'm a civil servant now, so the payout is quite generous and I have two children in nursery, where the rates are the same for a week as three days. So that is £2k a month from my net salary. Plus commuting to London of around £300 a month ( eg all my net salary at £40k!)

My dh is a very high earner, so we don't qualify for any benefits, I may have to claim and return child benefit for the Ni credits in the short term. I realise childcare is a joint cost, but to me the relevant cost is the full cost of putting my kids in nursery and getting the train to work. Childcare will fall quite steeply, but will still take a few years to "earn" my redundancy payout if I stay.

Oh and mine I applied for in this format I didn't do it then ask for flexi work.

I only know of one person who has found a part-time senior accountancy role without working for an organisation full-time previously (and I know a lot of ACAs). Again I know of only one senior person (ie 10 year PQE) who works part-time as most senior jobs just don't seem to work in the finance sector like that. Lots of jobs at more junior levels seem to work, but managing upwards of 15 people, it starts to become very difficult.

It's pretty rubbish, but if you do take redundancy and don't find another job, keep up with your cpd etc.

Can I just check, you currently work full time but have applied to go part time?

I would take the VR. If this tides you over for 3 years you would definitely find a 4 day a week position in that time I am sure. 4 day ones do exist. What you might also find is that you can go for a full time position and if you get it then ask for 4 days. My current role was advertised as 4 or 5 days. To be honest I now realise that I shot myself in the foot as basically I am paid 80% of what they would have paid someone else to essentially do the same job.

In year. Yes, I'm currently full time at £60+k but have applied for part time. Then on Friday I got a redundancy offer. It isn't massive but the first £30k is tax free, and like I say, until dd1 starts nursery my part time salary will not net me much more than the childcare and commute costs, so the payout goes a long way!

I do think I could probably go back full time or 4 days in a few years when the childcare position changes. It is only now while the little darlings don't sleep that it isn't viable to do more than three days.

Also as an accountant, as much as I sometimes enjoy my job, I cant face the prospect of paying to go to work for a few years, so need some tangible incentive to stay longer term.

I am an accountant but a few years ago I moved into a corporate governance role (ICSA qualified company secretary). There are quite a few senior part time roles in this industry particularly in London and it is well paid.

I have recently gone from temporary to permanent in a 0.7 role as a project manager in the NHS. It was advertised full-time. I applied and said I was currently working 0.7. Other senior managers were working 0.8 and they offered me 0.7. V pleased. We are a team of five and I kind of get less projects than the other four and it works very well, I am so glad I asked for part-time from the beginning but I was not out of work when I did ask.

I often see charity accountant jobs offered for p/t role on an agency called Charityjob. There are also a couple of p/t specialist job agencies called Timewise Jobs and another one called Allmumkind recruitment.

No. Very rare.

Where I work, which is a fairly niche business, there is a stubborn and illogical determination to avoid p/t staff at senior level. The result is that most junior staff are more highly qualified, knowledgeable and experienced than senior staff which causes a great deal of resentment.

Beggars belief.

I agree it's more common to get recruited as full time then negotiate down.

I do know people who have gone straight into part time jobs although these were advertised as full time roles and the part time hours were negotiated at interview. It depends somewhat on the business/role how likely this is. I'm currently working in a fairly niche area. Employers are happier to have a good fit for the role 4 days a week than making compromises on skills required to get someone full time.

It seems very rare to see part time jobs advertised.

Right, I have decided to bite the bullet come what may. I finally nailed my boss down on my flexible working request and he was only willing to grant fewer hours than I had asked for, in order to make it a jobshare, which makes the numbers on redundancy more compelling. Three years to payback, who knows where I will be in three years time, a lot could happen in three years and I would rather spend that time with my kids than only seeing daylight twice a day!

Good luck bedraggled fwiw i think you have made the right choice, i think i would do the same in your shoes.